Method for seamless communications between a communication device and wireless access points

ABSTRACT

A system and methods ( 300, 400 ) are disclosed for seamless communications between a communication device and wireless access points. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a multimode communication device (MCD) ( 106 ) having a controller ( 214 ) to manage operations of a global position (GPS) receiver ( 212 ), and a multimode wireless transceiver ( 202 ). The controller can be programmed to authenticate ( 304 ) the MCD with a first wireless access point, request and receive ( 306 ) a first IP address, establish ( 308 ) communications with a network management system (NMS) ( 100 ) according to the first IP address, transmit ( 310 ) to the NMS a location of the MCD, receive ( 320 ) a second IP address from the NMS in response to the NMS determining that the MCD is near a second wireless access point, and establish ( 330 ) communications over the second wireless access point according to the second IP address. Embodiments for the NMS are also disclosed.

RELATED APPLICATION

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/296,721, Attorney docket no. 7785-74(LB2006), filed Dec. 6, 2005, by Doradla et al., entitled “Method forConserving Energy in a Multimode Communication Device,” incorporatedherein by reference.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, Attorney docket no. 7785-82(LB1246), filed Dec. 20, 2005, by Muhamed et al., entitled “Method forEnabling Communications Between a Communication Device and a WirelessAccess Point,” incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to communication techniques,and more specifically to a method for seamless communications between acommunication device and wireless access points.

BACKGROUND

As WiFi makes its way into cellular phones, configuring these devicescan be burdensome. Basic WiFi provisioning requires a Network ID(generally referred to as the Service Set Identifier or SSID) andencryption keys to be configured properly in the phone and the accesspoint. In some applications, it is possible for a phone to automaticallydetect an SSID from a beacon signal broadcast by the access point,thereby avoiding the need to manually configure it. However, forsecurity purposes the access point may be provisioned to disable thebroadcast of the SSID, in which case the end user of the phone needs tomanually configure the phone with the SSID and one or more encryptionkeys.

Once provisioned, the cell phone also needs to request an IP addressfrom a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. Acquiring anIP address can take a few seconds, thereby stalling the process forenabling communications. For dual-mode cell phones that roam from onewireless access point to another, the handoff process can severelyimpact communications such as Voice over IP (VoIP) taking place in aprevious access point.

A need therefore arises for a method for seamless communications betweena communication device and wireless access points.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network management system (NMS) and anumber of multimode communication devices (MCDs) operating in acommunication system according to teachings of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MCD of FIG. 1 according to teachings ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 depict a flowchart of a method operating in the MCD according toteachings of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method operating in the NMS according toteachings of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure provide a methodfor seamless communications between a communication device and wirelessaccess points.

In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a multimodecommunication device (MCD) can have a controller to manage operations ofa global position (GPS) receiver for locating the MCD, and a multimodewireless transceiver supporting communications on a plurality ofwireless access technologies. The controller can be programmed toauthenticate the MCD with a first wireless access point, request a firstIP address from the first wireless access point according to a DynamicHost Configuration Protocol (DHCP), receive the first IP address,establish communications with a network management system (NMS) over thefirst wireless access point according to the first IP address, monitor alocation of the MCD, transmit to the NMS the location of the MCD overthe first wireless access point, receive over the first wireless accesspoint a second IP address from the NMS in response to the NMSdetermining that the MCD is near to a second wireless access point whilecontinuing to be within a communication range of the first wirelessaccess point, detect the second wireless access point, authenticate theMCD with the second wireless access point, and establish communicationsover the second wireless access point according to the second IPaddress.

In a second embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readablestorage medium in a multimode communication device (MCD) can havecomputer instructions for receiving over a first wireless access point asecond IP address from a network management system (NMS) in response tothe NMS determining that the MCD is near a second wireless access point,and establishing communications with a third party communication deviceover the second wireless access point according to the second IPaddress.

In a third embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readablestorage medium operating in an NMS can have computer instructions fortransmitting to an MCD over a first wireless access point an IP addressassociated with a subnet of a second wireless access point when the NMSdetects the MCD is near the second wireless access point.

In a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure, a network managementsystem (NMS) can have a controller for managing operations of acommunications interface for exchanging messages with a plurality ofmultimode communication devices (MCDs) capable of accessing a pluralityof wireless access technologies. The controller can be programmed toreceive from an MCD over a first wireless access point a location of theMCD, determine that the MCD is near a second wireless access point whilecontinuing to be within a communication range of the first wirelessaccess point, identify an available IP address associated with thesecond wireless access point, and transmit the IP address to the MCD forestablishing communications with third party communication devices overthe second wireless access point.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network management system (NMS) 100 andmultimode communication devices (MCDs) 106 operating in a communicationsystem 101. The NMS 100 comprises a communications interface 110, amemory 104 and a controller 102. The communications interface 110utilizes wired or wireless communications technology for interfacing tothe communication system 101. The communications interface 110 can berepresented by a circuit-switched and/or a packet-switched interface.

The controller 102 can utilize computing technology such as a scalableserver to manage operations of the communications interface 110 and adatabase embedded in the memory 104 for storing network information suchas location information relating to a number of wireless access centers103 disbursed throughout a communications system 101, network IDsassociated with one or more wireless access points (WAPs) operating inthe access centers 103, and IP addresses available for communicatingwithin a subnet of each WAP. The NMS 100 can also operate commonapplications such as a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system formanaging customer accounts stored in the database which includes amongother things information relating to services rendered, a customer'sresidential address, and other pertinent service information.

An MCD 106 is a wireless device capable of communicating with any numberof wireless access technologies for data and/or voice communications.Common access technologies supported by the MCD can include cellular(CDMA, GSM, TDMA, UMTS, etc.), WiFi, ultra wideband (UWB), softwaredefined radio (SDR), Bluetooth™, and WiMax, just to mention a few. TheMCD 106 can support wireless circuit-switched voice communications orpacket-switched voice communications such as voice over IP (VoIP). FIG.2 depicts a block diagram of the MCD 106. The MCD 106 can comprise amultimode wireless transceiver 202 (herein referred to as a“transceiver”), and a controller 214 for controlling operations thereof.The transceiver 202 utilizes common multimode wireless technology tosupport end user communications by way of the access technologiesdescribed above.

In a supplemental embodiment, the MCD 106 can further include a userinterface (UI) 204, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 212.The UI 204 can include among other things a keypad 206 with selectablenavigation and depressible keys, an audio system 208 for conveying andintercepting audio messages from an end user, and a display 210 forconveying images. Each of these embodiments can serve as a means formanipulating selectable options provided by the MCD 106, and forconveying messages to the end user according to the present disclosure.

The GPS receiver 212 utilizes common technology for receiving signalsfrom a constellation of GPS satellites for detecting a location of theMCD 106. The controller 214 can include a computing device such as amicroprocessor, or digital signal processor (DSP) with associatedstorage devices such as RAM, ROM, DRAM, Flash, and other commonmemories. To support mobility, the MCD 106 can include a portable powersupply 213 with technology for supplying energy to the components of theMCD 106 from one or more rechargeable batteries, and for recharging saidbatteries.

The communication system 101 can support a number of wireless accesstechnologies such as cellular (GSM, CDMA, UMTS, EVDO, etc.), WiFi, UWB,WiMax, Bluetooth™, SDR, among others, for communicating with the MCDs106. For the present illustration, it will be assumed that the MCD 106is a dual-mode device supporting GSM and WiFi access technologies. Theaccess centers 103 represent, for example, retailers (such asStarbucks™) or residences of MCD end users. In this illustration, theaccess centers 103 are scattered throughout the communication system 101as WiFi centers with one or more wireless access points (WAPs) at eachcenter. These centers 103 thus provide the MCDs 106 alternate orsupplementary communications means to GSM.

End users of the MCDs 106 can therefore switch between accesstechnologies when it may be convenient or cost effective to do so. MCDs106 can also roam between access centers 103 as shown in FIG. 5. Asnoted earlier WAPs can represent any one of the wireless accesstechnologies discussed above. For convenience and without limiting thescope of the present disclosure, the WAPs in the access centers 103 aswill be described below are assumed to be WiFi only.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method 300 operating in the MCD 106.Method 300 begins with step 301 where the controller 214 can beprogrammed to detect a first WAP. This step can occur upon a power-upcycle or while scanning for WAPs. Once detected, the MCD 106 proceeds tostep 304 where it authenticates the MCD 106 according to a network ID.The network ID can include a service set identifier (SSID), and one ormore encryption keys associated with the first WAP. The network ID canbe acquired from a beacon transmitted by the first WAP, can bepreprogrammed in a memory of the MCD 106, or entered by an end user byway of the UI 204. Once authenticated, the controller 214 can beprogrammed to request in step 306 a first IP address from a Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) server operating in the WAP or at acomputing device coupled to the WAP. Once the first IP address isreceived, the controller 214 can establish communications with the NMS100 in step 308 by way of a registration process (e.g., login andpassword).

In step 310, the controller 214 can be programmed to periodicallytransmit to the NMS 100 locations of the MCD 106 monitored by the GPSreceiver 212 as directed by the controller 214. The monitoring rate canbe pre-programmed during a power-up cycle of the MCD 106 and updated asneeded in step 312. In accordance with the locations tracked, thecontroller 214 can be programmed to determine a speed of travel of theMCD 106. If in step 312, the controller 214 detects a change in speed,it can be further programmed to adjust in step 314 the monitoringfrequency used by the controller 214 to track the location of the MCD106. If, for example, the speed of travel of the MCD 106 has increased,the controller 214 can in response increase the monitoring frequency inorder to provide the NMS 100 better location resolution to trace theroute and rate of movement of the MCD 106. If, on the other hand, thecontroller 214 detects a decrease in the speed of the MCD 106, it canlower its monitoring rate in order to reduce the amount of informationit transmits to the NMS 100. Alternatively, a request for adjusting themonitoring rate can come from the NMS 100 in step 316, which directs thecontroller 214 to adjust the monitoring frequency in step 310.

In step 318, the controller 214 can receive from, for example, an enduser by way of the UI 204 a request to establish communications with athird party communication device (e.g., another MCD or computing device)according to the first IP address. Said communications can comprise VoIPcommunications, and/or general data communications over the Internet.While these communications are taking place, the controller 214 can beprogrammed to receive over the first WAP a second IP address from theNMS 100 in response to the NMS 100 determining that the MCD 106 is nearto a second WAP. Referring to position A of FIG. 5, step 318 may notoccur until the MCD 106 is in position B while still communicating withthe first WAP. In anticipation of a transition to the second WAP, thecontroller 214 can be programmed to receive a network ID (e.g., SSID andencryption keys) associated with the second WAP. With the second IPaddress and the network ID of the second WAP, the controller 214 canquickly handoff communications between the first WAP to the second WAPwith potentially an imperceptible impact to the on-going communicationswith the third party communication device established in step 318 overthe first WAP.

Once the MCD 106 is within the communication range of the NMS 100, thecontroller 214 can receive in step 324 an indication from the NMS 100that it is in the communication range of the second WAP. This step canhelp to conserve energy in the MCD 106 by scanning WAPs only when theyare known to be available. For example, referring back to FIG. 5, oncethe NMS 100 detects that the MCD 106 is within an overlap region betweenthe first and second WAPs (as shown in position C), it can notify theMCD 106 that it can successfully scan for the second WAP in step 326.

Once detected, the controller 214 can authenticate in step 328 the MCD106 according to the network ID associated with the second WAP. In step330, the controller 214 can be further programmed to handoffcommunications from the first WAP to the second WAP according to thesecond IP address associated with the second WAP. By providing the MCD106 the network ID and IP address to the second WAP in steps 320-322prior to the MCD 106 being within the communication range of the secondWAP, the communications handoff can occur quickly with no impact orimperceptible impact to the communications previously established withthe third party communication device over the first WAP.

To efficiently manage the use of IP addresses, the controller 214 can befurther programmed in step 332 to relinquish the first IP addressthereby making it available to other devices roaming into the first WAP.From step 332, the aforementioned steps can be repeated starting fromstep 310. If, for example, the MCD 106 roams from position D (see FIG.5) near to another WAP or back to the first WAP, the controller 214 canreceive a network ID and corresponding IP address of the approaching WAPas an a priori set up for a seamless handoff.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method 400 operating in the NMS 100 thatmirrors some of the functions described in FIG. 3. Method 400 beginswith step 402 where the controller 102 of the NMS 100 can be programmedto register the MCD 106 over the first WAP. In step 404, the controller102 can receive from the MCD 106 the monitored locations of the MCD. Instep 406, the controller 102 can determine the speed of the MCD 106. Ifthere is change in speed detected in step 412, the controller 102proceeds to step 414 where it submits a request to the MCD 106 to adjustits monitoring frequency based on a detected increase or decrease inspeed as described above in method 300. If there is a nominal change inspeed or no change at all, the controller 102 can be programmed toproceed to step 416.

By knowing the traceable route of the MCD 106 (as shown in FIG. 5), theMCD's speed, and the location of the WAPs disbursed throughout thecommunication system 101 (stored in, for example, the database 104), thecontroller 102 can be programmed to predict in step 416 a first timewhen the MCD 106 will be near the second WAP. The first predicted timecan be, for example, the time it would take to travel from position A toposition B as illustrated in FIG. 5. Similarly, in step 418, thecontroller 102 can be further programmed to predict a second time whenthe MCD 106 will be in a communication range of the second WAP whilemaintaining communications with the first WAP. This can be the traveltime from position A to position C in FIG. 5.

Thus in step 420, the controller 102 can be programmed to submit an IPaddress and network ID associated with the second WAP at the firstpredicted time. In step 422, the controller 102 can be furtherprogrammed to submit an indication to the MCD 106 that it is in thecommunication range of the second WAP at the second predicted time. Thepredictions in steps 416-418 can be verified by steps 420-422 (or priorto these steps) by comparing the last known location of the MCD 106 toits predicted target location. If these verifications prove to falsifythe prediction, the controller 102 can be programmed to repeat steps416-418 and the steps that follow.

Upon receiving the network ID and IP address of the second WAP, the MCD106 can handoff communications from the first to the second WAP andrelinquish the IP address of the first WAP as described earlier inmethod 300. The relinquishing notice can be received by the controller102 in step 424. Accordingly, the controller 102 proceeds to step 426where it makes the IP address of the first WAP available to otherdevices roaming thereto.

The foregoing embodiments described by methods 300-400 move the DHCPserver functions to interactions between the MCD 106 and the NMS 100which has the capability of tracking the MCD 106 relative to the knownlocations of the WAPs. By providing network IDs and IP addressesassociated with an upcoming WAP, the MCD 106 can perform a nearlyseamless transition or handoff of communications, thereby improving theoverall end user experience. As noted earlier, a WAP can represent allforms of wireless access technologies not just WiFi. For example, a WAPcan represent a cellular base station, WiMax, Bluetooth, Ultra Wideband(UWB), SDR, and so on. Consequently, the embodiments described above canbe applied to a WiFi to cellular handoff, a cellular to WiMax handoff, aWiMax to Bluetooth handoff, UWB to UWB handoff, and so on. Thecombinations and permutations possible can be endless and can best beidentified by the claims described below.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system 600 within which a set of instructions, when executed,may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed above. In some embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected(e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networked deployment,the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client usermachine in server-client user network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly anyelectronic device that provides voice, video or data communication.Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 600 may include a processor 602 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU, or both), a mainmemory 604 and a static memory 606, which communicate with each othervia a bus 608. The computer system 600 may further include a videodisplay unit 610 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system600 may include an input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 614 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 616, a signal generationdevice 618 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a network interfacedevice 620.

The disk drive unit 616 may include a machine-readable medium 622 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 624)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated above. The instructions 624may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 604, the static memory 606, and/or within the processor 602during execution thereof by the computer system 600. The main memory 604and the processor 602 also may constitute machine-readable media.Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatusand systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety ofelectronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions intwo or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices withrelated control and data signals communicated between and through themodules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit.Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 624, or that which receives and executes instructions 624from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 626 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 626 using the instructions 624. Theinstructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a network626 via the network interface device 620.

While the machine-readable medium 622 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure.

The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memorycard or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile)memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile)memories; magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape; andcarrier wave signals such as a signal embodying computer instructions ina transmission medium; and/or a digital file attachment to e-mail orother self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one ormore of a machine-readable medium or a distribution medium, as listedherein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, inwhich the software implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R.§1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quicklyascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted withthe understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit thescope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it can be seen that various features are grouped togetherin a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed embodiments require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of asingle disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separately claimed subject matter.

1. A multimode communication device (MCD), comprising: a controller tomanage operations of a global position (GPS) receiver for locating theMCD, and a multimode wireless transceiver supporting communications on aplurality of wireless access technologies, wherein the controller isprogrammed to: authenticate the MCD with a first wireless access point;request a first IP address from the first wireless access pointaccording to a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP); receive thefirst IP address; establish communications with a network managementsystem (NMS) over the first wireless access point according to the firstIP address; monitor a location of the MCD; transmit to the NMS thelocation of the MCD over the first wireless access point; receive overthe first wireless access point a second IP address from the NMS inresponse to the NMS determining that the MCD is near to a secondwireless access point while continuing to be within a communicationrange of the first wireless access point; detect the second wirelessaccess point; authenticate the MCD with the second wireless accesspoint; and establish communications over the second wireless accesspoint according to the second IP address.
 2. The MCD of claim 1, whereinthe controller is programmed to: establish communications with a thirdparty communication device over the first wireless access point; andhandoff communications with the third party communication device fromthe first wireless access point to the second wireless access pointaccording to the second IP address.
 3. The MCD of claim 2, wherein thecontroller is programmed to relinquish the first IP address in responseto the communications handoff between the first and second wirelessaccess points.
 4. The MCD of claim 2, wherein the communications handoffbetween the first and second wireless access points minimally impactscommunications between the MCD and the third party communication device.5. The MCD of claim 2, wherein the controller is programmed to processcommunications between the MCD and the third party communication deviceaccording to a Voice over IP (VoIP) communications protocol.
 6. The MCDof claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to authenticate the MCDwith the first wireless access point according to a network ID.
 7. TheMCD of claim 6, wherein network ID comprises a service set identifier(SSID), and one or more encryption keys associated with the firstwireless access point.
 8. The MCD of claim 1, wherein the controller isprogrammed to: receive a frequency adjustment request from the NMS;adjust a frequency for monitoring the location of the MCD according tothe frequency adjustment request; and transmit the location of the MCDto the NMS according to the adjusted frequency for monitoring thelocation of the MCD.
 9. The MCD of claim 1, wherein the controller isprogrammed to: detect a change in speed of the MCD according to themonitored location of the MCD; adjust a frequency for monitoring thelocation of the MCD according to the detected change in speed; andtransmit the location of the MCD to the NMS according to the adjustedfrequency for monitoring the location of the MCD.
 10. The MCD of claim1, wherein the controller is programmed to: receive an indication fromthe NMS when the MCD is within a communication range of the secondwireless access point; and scan for the second wireless access point inresponse to the indication.
 11. The MCD of claim 10, wherein thecontroller is programmed to: receive from the NMS a network IDassociated with the second wireless access point in response to the NMSdetermining that the MCD is near to the second wireless access point;and authenticate the MCD with the second wireless access point accordingto the network ID.
 12. A computer-readable storage medium in a multimodecommunication device (MCD), comprising computer instructions forreceiving over a first wireless access point a second IP address from anetwork management system (NMS) in response to the NMS determining thatthe MCD is near a second wireless access point.
 13. The storage mediumof claim 12, comprising computer instructions for establishingcommunications with a third party communication device over the secondwireless access point according to the second IP address.
 14. Acomputer-readable storage medium operating in an NMS, comprisingcomputer instructions for transmitting to an MCD over a first wirelessaccess point an IP address associated with a subnet of a second wirelessaccess point when the NMS detects the MCD is near the second wirelessaccess point.
 15. A network management system (NMS), comprising: acontroller for managing operations of a communications interface forexchanging messages with a plurality of multimode communication devices(MCDs) capable of accessing a plurality of wireless access technologies,wherein the controller is programmed to: register an MCD over a firstwireless access point; receive from the MCD over the first wirelessaccess point monitored locations of the MCD; determine according to themonitored locations that the MCD is near a second wireless access pointwhile continuing to be within a communication range of the firstwireless access point; identify an available IP address associated withthe second wireless access point; and transmit the IP address to the MCDfor establishing communications with third party communication devicesover the second wireless access point.
 16. The NMS of claim 15, whereinthe controller is programmed to monitor a speed of the MCD according tothe monitored locations of the MCD.
 17. The NMS of claim 16, wherein thecontroller is programmed to transmit a frequency adjustment request tothe MCD according to the monitored speed.
 18. The NMS of claim 17,wherein the frequency adjustment request comprises one among a requestfor a faster rate of monitoring the location of the MCD in response to adetected increase in speed of the MCD, and a request for a slower rateof monitoring the location of the MCD in response to a detected decreasein speed of the MCD.
 19. The NMS of claim 16, wherein the controller isprogrammed to: predict a time when the MCD will be near the secondwireless access point according to one or more of the monitoredlocations of the MCD and its speed; and transmit the IP address to theMCD at the predicted time.
 20. The NMS of claim 19, wherein thecontroller is programmed to: identify a network ID associated with thesecond wireless access point, wherein the network ID comprises a serviceset identifier (SSID), and one or more encryption keys associated withthe second wireless access point; and transmit the network ID to the MCDat the predicted time.
 21. The NMS of claim 16, wherein the controlleris programmed to: predict a time when the MCD will be in a communicationrange of the second wireless access point according to one or more ofthe monitored locations of the MCD and its speed; and transmit to theMCD at the predicted time an indication that the MCD can begin to scanfor the second wireless access point.
 22. The NMS of claim 15, whereinthe controller is programmed to: receive from the MCD a notice torelinquish an alternate IP address associated with the first wirelessaccess point in response to a handoff of communications by the MCD fromthe first wireless access point to the second wireless access point; andmake available the alternate IP address for other devices requestingcommunication with the first wireless access point.